I purchased a new Cannondale Synapse Alloy 6 in early March. I have roughly 250 miles on it. After the first 100 miles I took it back to my LBS to have it adjusted and tightened up. Before I did this, it would creak a fair amount when pedaling hard or shifting my weight around on the bike. The 100 mile adjustment didn't seem to help this. I know my LBS actually did what they were supposed to do because I watched them. I can't really tell where the creaks are coming from, but it's in multiple places. One place it seems to be a bit noisy is in the crank.

I would think that for the $1100 I paid for this bike, it should be absolutely silent. Is this normal for my type of bike?

Note that one place you may get creaks from in a new bike is the wheels. This happens while the spokes are taking a set, and generally abates after a hundred miles or so.
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Daniel R HicksJun 4 '12 at 16:49

5 Answers
5

No bike, no matter how good, is absolutely silent. It's possible that this bike needs to be tuned better, but more likely, it's simply the fact that it is Shimano's most basic 10 speed components and what is for Cannondale a more basic alloy frame.

I would suggest taking it to a different LBS for an opinion on what the real problem is, or if there is one.

It could be a loose or dry bottom bracket, headset, hubs, chain, chain ring bolts, saddle, seat post or pretty much any other moving part on the bike.

The main thing to worry about with a noisy crank is that the crank arm may be loose. If this is so then the crank arm and shaft will be destroyed in short order.

Presumably the shop checked to be sure that the crank arms were tight. If so, then on a new bike there are no other creaks that are likely to signal a serious problem. Whether the noises should be there is another question, but as Zen says, no bike is perfectly silent.

I had the same problem, in my case it was due to the Bottom Bracket, apparently the ones they used are notorious for it as if any water is splashed near them it washes some of the grease out It will not harm the bike though it is very annoying. To fix it you can apply spray grease into the BB. Though bear in mind that it could be coming from the seat, seat post, headset. Good Luck!!

Mine was making noise from the seat post. It got fixed, but still, when I apply pressure on the pedals in the higher gears, I hear strange noise that I can't tell from where it is coming, it is annoying.